By Calvin D. Cordova
Cebu City — Former mayor Michael Rama will challenge the incumbent, Tomas Osmeña, in next year’s mayoralty race.
“We will get the city back. I will run for mayor in 2019,” Rama declared during the oath-taking of the 34 Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) chairpersons and 30 barangay captains who are allied with Team Rama-PDP Laban last Wednesday.
Rama first needs to be officially proclaimed by the party, which is all but certain.
It would be the third time that Osmeña and Rama will face off for the mayorship.
He defeated Osmeña in their first meeting but Osmeña got back at him in the last local elections.
Vice Mayor Edgar Labella said they lost four SK chairpersons who shifted their allegiance to the Osmeña-led Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK).
The SK Federation-Cebu Chapter election was held last Tuesday where BOPK’s bet Jessica Resch of Barangay San Nicolas Proper was elected president.
“We only have 34 SK chairmen left but of course, those four should also think that we also had our share in helping them to win,” Labella said.
He downplayed the fact that BOPK has more supporters, saying “it is not about the quantity but a question of the quality of service they can give.”
Labella assured that the SK chairmen and barangay captains allied with the opposition can still secure a budget of up to R10 million for infrastructure projects from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).(With PIT Intern Larnie L. Bacalando)